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	<title>Distinction Jewelry - The Blog</title>
	<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog</link>
	<description>News, Information, and Updates for Jewelry Lovers</description>
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		<title>Distinction Jewelry Video Contest Winner Announced!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[With my sincere thanks to everyone who entered, I am thrilled to announce that the winner of the Distinction Jewelry video contest is Rose Ciardiello! Her 40-second promo spot was written, directed, acted, and edited with utmost professionalism.  It is entertaining and fun to watch as well as being a fantastic advertisement for Distinction Jewelry. It was also the winner in overall popularity with the youtube audience. Look for it to be featured on YouTube as well as on my website and newsletter.  Thank you, Rose, for your outstanding video! Rose will be taking home a $100.00 gift certificate for Distinction Jewelry and a one-year listing with co-sponsor Ellie Bean &#38; Models.  She&#8217;ll also be appearing in many future still modeling shoots for Distinction Jewelry. Thank you very much to all of you who entered.  Your creativity and hard work was remarkable and showed through in every single video. There was no plan for runner-up awards, but things change&#8230;. Jade Doheny is our first runner-up. Jade is only six years old, yet she memorized a long and detailed script, performing it in one continuous take.  Amazing!  Her viewers thought so too, because her video is second only to Rose&#8217;s in popularity [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/distinction-jewelry-video-contest-winner-announced/</link>
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		<title>Designing Jewelry for Men</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For some time now, I&#8217;ve wanted to make jewelry for men.  It’s proven problematic for a number of reasons.  First, I’m a girl.  I’m good at getting into the heads of my fellow females and designing what they want, not so much with the male of the species. There are certain basic facts about what men do and don’t like in their jewelry which circulate on jewelry designer’s message boards, but at the end of the day most people are as stumped as I am.  The most popular men’s jewelry seems to be cheap, mass produced earthy trinkets from Asia – not exactly my niche Ask a guy, and his answer will likely be either “I know what I like when I see it,” or “Whatever looks cool.”  Veeeeeery helpful indeed! I have designed a number of masculine jewelry pieces in the past, and they all sold fairly quickly….to women.  I rank among my single accomplishment as a men’s jewelry designer a couple of grainy photos of a very handsome TV actor wearing two of my necklaces. Enter….the muse.  While – ahem – admiring some photos of a male model, I was overtaken with the desire to see him modeling MY jewelry.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/designing-jewelry-for-men/</link>
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		<title>CAD/CAM Jewelry Design Services coming this summer!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wanted a truly custom ring?  A unique design you would never find in a jewelry store?  Maybe the perfect setting designed for your own gemstone? Well, get ready, because big things are happening here at Distinction Jewelry! I&#8217;m preparing to invest in a state-of-the-art CAD system for custom goldsmiths that will allow me to design (and with the help of world-class jewelry maker Stuller) produce rings that couldn&#8217;t be made any other way. Photo-realistic rendering including hand shots matched to your skin tone.  Custom setting of your own gems.  Complete choice.  CAD/CAM by CounterSketch is at the forefront of the jewelry industry, and it&#8217;s coming right here to my little jewelry store! I can work with you online anywhere in the world, and send your completed ring right to your door via secure tracked and insured mail.  No trying to find a competent custom jeweler in your area!  I am a colored gemstone specialist and can even help in this field that so many traditional jewelers are unfamiliar with. Start dreaming now&#8230;.and we can make it happen together this summer.]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/cadcam-jewelry-design-services-coming-this-summer/</link>
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		<title>How Big is a 6mm Gemstone Cabochon Earring?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[How big is a 6mm stud earring?  What does a 6mm gemstone look like?  Here are some photos of a model wearing 6mm round cabochon and rose cut gemstone stud earrings to help you figure out what all those confusing sizes actually translate to in real life.  Also shown here is a comparison between 6mm and 4mm earring sizes, worn in multiple piercings. For my American customers, 6mm is about 1/4 inch. Click the images to view larger and scroll between pictures. Model: Kristen C Photos: Photography by Rose All rights reserved.  Please feel free to link to this article if you find it useful, but the content or photos may not be copied to another site.]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/how-big-is-a-6mm-cabochon-earring/</link>
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		<title>Distinction Jewelry Video Contest</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Video Competition: Calling aspiring actresses and film-makers!  Get free jewelry, make a video, and get a chance to earn a $100.00 gift certificate as well as an additional year added to your listing on Ellie Bean &#38; Models&#8230;.a $75.00 value. Several actresses and celebrities already wear my designs, and you can be next! How it works: Sign up to model an item, but instead of a still photo shoot, create a short video to promote Distinction Jewelry.  The video can be a product review, advertisement, or even a super-short film with product placement. The creator of the best video at the end of the month will get a $100.00 gift certificate to Distinction Jewelry, and Ellie Bean &#38; Models will give the winner a free one-year extension to their listing. 1. Sign up between 01/13/11 and 01/20/11 by sending an email to Ellie Bean &#38; Models at elliebeanmodels@gmail.com requesting the video competition assignment.  Please include the age of the model/actress. 2. Items will be shipped between 01/20/11 and 01/27/11 3. You will have one month, or until 02/27/11 to create and upload your video. 4. All videos will be live on the Distinction Jewelry youtube channel for one week to gather comments and popularity stats. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/distinction-jewelry-video-contest/</link>
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		<title>Recycle your gold and get new jewelry without spending a cent!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wondered what to do with old gold pieces or broken jewelry? Would you like to get free jewelry from my website, and recycle precious metals at the same time? You can get value out of old or broken gold jewelry without dealing with pawn shops or high pressure &#8220;cash for gold&#8221; vendors.  I offer account credit for your unwanted gold, allowing you to choose brand-new goodies from my shop!  Your gold will either be recycled into new jewelry in-house, repaired and re-polished for sale as pre-owned, or sent to an environmentally friendly US based refinery for recycling depending on my needs at the time. What kinds of gold do you recycle? 10k, 14k, 18k, and 22k solid gold.  I cannot use plated, filled, or HGE items.  If you have a large quantity of sterling silver you are interested in trading in, feel free to contact me. Items can contain gemstones, but due to the high cost of verifying the identity of gems from unknown sources, I cannot normally give you credit for them.  High value gems such as diamonds *may* be worth sending to the lab to verify depending on size.  Gems will be removed prior to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/recycle-your-gold-and-get-new-jewelry/</link>
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		<title>Gems lost their sparkle?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Never fear, chances are they simply need cleaning.  The trick is to access the underside of the stone and remove any buildup from it.  Diamonds can be safely cleaned in ultrasonic or steam cleaners, but many colored stones can be damaged in these automated cleaners.  For that reason I recommend hand cleaning of colored gems.  You can keep what you need near the sink and clean them whenever you feel like. You&#8217;ll want: Mesh kitchen strainer: Put this below the faucet in the sink prior to washing your jewelry.  Soapy hands are slippery and jewelry is small; you want dropped pieces falling into the strainer and not down the drain.  This simple step will save sanity, hair, and money  Plastic is better than metal, to avoid scratching your jewelry. Mild, scum-free soap: I use handmade soap purchased from artists on etsy.com but any nice natural soap should do. Soft paintbrush with bristles capable of reaching into the setting and under the stone: Some people use a toothbrush, but they can dull highly polished finishes.  Go with a nice paintbrush from the craft or art supply store. Warm water: Wash with warm water, soap, fingers, and your paintbrush, paying special attention [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/gems-lost-their-sparkle/</link>
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		<title>BE Treated &#8220;Songea&#8221; Sapphires</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What they are:  Real sapphires, mined from the earth, gorgeous, and affordable. What they aren&#8217;t: Naturally the color you see. Songea is a place of origin for some pretty, natural sapphires, but has been commandeered by the trade as the name for diffusion-treated sapphires, usually in shades of yellow, orange, and red.  Diffusion treating involves bringing the gems to high heat (which in itself improves the clarity of the stone) in the presence of beryllium. If you follow gems and jewelry news, you may remember the &#8220;official gem of the Beijing Olympics,&#8221; which was marketed as a new find of rare red andesine.  These beautiful stones were flooded into the market and sold on television at high prices as natural gems, until an enterprising gemologist dug deeper and found evidence of color diffusion. You see, diffusion is a treatment that can be very difficult to detect on ordinary gemological equipment, so the scam was perpetuated unknowingly by many honest vendors who simply couldn&#8217;t detect it.   There are few gem labs in the world with the equipment to make a determination of whether a stone is diffused or not; a SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer) costs as much as two [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/be-treated-songea-sapphires/</link>
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		<title>Getting the Gem Lab Set Up</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been a busy couple of months here at Distinction Jewelry, and one of the most interesting (and sometimes frustrating) activities I&#8217;ve been engaged in is setting up my own little gemology lab.  I buy my gems very carefully from trusted, reputable sources.  I&#8217;ve got a sharp eye with a loupe and I can spot many fakes a mile away with my own trusty little eyeballs.  I send gems out to my gemologist (A GIA graduate gemologist) for testing and verification. In other words, I was getting along just fine, until the gemology bug bit me and I decided I wanted to learn the nuts and bolts of gem innards myself.  That&#8217;s fabulous in many ways, because I love to learn and I love to buy new toys.  The downside to this latest obsession of mine is that the toys are expensive, and there is a LOT to learn.  There&#8217;s a reason people go to long, expensive, and often remotely located schools to learn gemology (I have a hankering to attend one in Thailand), but my low budget and addiction to doing things the hard way demand I do this on my own for the time being. My initial setup [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/getting-the-gem-lab-set-up/</link>
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		<title>Of Organization and Traffic Stops</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently got a box full of goodies from Levenger to organize my custom orders, gems I need to order, sketches of prospective projects, etc.  My inner neat-freak is in heaven!  (My neat-freak has to remain an inner one&#8230;my house is a Federal disaster area.)  Their Circa system lets you add, remove, and sort pages in your notebook on a whim, solving the main problems I have with most journals and sketchbooks. As an almost entirely online jeweler, the specs of my custom orders are already written out online, but I need something with measurements and such that I can grab and run over to the studio with.  This baby is perfect, and I can even pull gems from stock and staple them to the custom order card so that I don&#8217;t run the risk of double-selling them or using a stone I promised a customer in a different project by accident.  Very slick! I find myself wishing they sold an automotive documents wallet for the glove box (although it would just get stolen, I suppose &#8211; my car has been broken into twice this year, once while I was on jury duty).  Most such things are so cheaply made [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://distinctionjewelry.com/jewelryinfoblog/of-organization-and-traffic-stops/</link>
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